Raiffeisen Wasserkraft: Clean electricity plus price advantage

"The partnership with Raiffeisen is fully in agreement with our strategy of addressing new groups of customers in Austria jointly with partners, so we do not have to build up special marketing structures, which would be expensive for the customers, ” says Hans Haider, Chairman of the VERBUND Board of Management. "Raiffeisen is the ideal partner who has many loyal customers all over Austria. For the Raiffeisen customers VERBUND is the optimal electricity supplier, generating clean electricity from Austrian hydropower, a contribution to an ecology-oriented production method that is fully in agreement with the concept of Austria as delicatessen shop."

"An important factor of the economy especially in rural areas, the Raiffeisen group is an energy supplier that plays an important role in the market now already. Therefore it is a logical step for us to utilize the possibilities offered by the energy law ElWOG and include electricity in our range of products", explains Karl Nigl, Chairman of the RWA Board of Management. "We are doing this in cooperation with VERBUND, which also feels committed to Austria and produces clean energy. This has a symbolic power as part of the service", Chairman Nigl said.

Streamlined sales- and marketing structures are what Dr. Johann Sereinig, responsible for the VERBUND power trading, is banking on. "The international development has shown that in the segment of private and small business customers only creative solutions can ensure the expected profitability in the medium term. Our partnership is a classic example of two prestigious domestic companies from different industrial sectors bundling their complementary strengths."

"The customer who opts for Raiffeisen Wasserkraft will be a winner in several respects", Reinhard Wolf, RWA Division Manager, outlines the customer benefits. According to him the customers get clean electricity generated from Austrian hydropower at an extremely attractive price and, additionally, a high measure of security from the two strong partner companies Raiffeisen Ware Austria and VERBUND.

The main target groups of "Raiffeisen Wasserkraft" are multiperson households, and small business and agricultural enterprises with a maximum annual power consumption of 100,000 kWh. Thus a market of a total of 3.7 million customers with a total consumption of almost 22 billion kWh is open to the new electricity provider. During the first phase Raiffeisen Wasserkraft will turn its special attention to the potential customers who are already customers of the Raiffeisen group. The goal of the joint enterprise is to win a total of 50,000 customers.

Changing over to Raiffeisen Wasserkraft is to be made as easy as possible for the clientele: A simple contract, no call for further action, and no cost arising from changing as well as transparent invoicing. "Through the sales structure of the Raiffeisen group it will be possible to become a customer of Raiffeisen Wasserkraft easily, quickly and without any problems", this is Mr. Wolf’s message to all those who are ready to change.